


I'll Take the Low Road

by Lucky107



Series: A Red, Red Rose [11]
Category: Hell on Wheels (TV)
Genre: 19th Century, Brother vs. Brother, Canon Divergence, Death Threats, Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 12:54:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10218629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucky107/pseuds/Lucky107
Summary: When she turns to speak, the words die on her lips.[Season 3]





	

**Author's Note:**

> Loch Lomond - Rosalind McAllister - 2013

Hell on Wheels is bustling with life.

The dusty main street is run by the large wagons and wild equestrians kicking up clouds on the thick summer air.  Smart pedestrians stay right out of their way because there's just no reasoning with a railroad worker with a tight deadline to keep - and Bonnie Mae MacLeod knows better than to try.

She hurries along the shop fronts, mindful of the indiscernible lumps and fresh puddles as she goes.  In her urgency to return to the infirmary she fails to notice Mickey McGinnes loitering outside of his establishment.

When Bonnie doesn't stop, Mickey catches her arm with force enough to bruise the pale skin beneath her blouse.

It's no secret that the recent lack of communication is intentional; after having Sean fired from the railroad, Bonnie's had nothing to say to Mickey that hasn't already been said.  But when she turns to speak, to give him a piece of her damn mind for apprehending her like a common criminal, the words die on her lips.

The man looking back at her is a stranger wearing Mickey's face, with sunken blue eyes and cheeks flush pink from excessive alcohol.

"Mick," Bonnie protests, but her voice is laced with worry.  "What're you doin'?"

"You've got one chance, lass," he explains, the heel of his hand falling to the butt of the gun on his hip.  "Get me idiot brother outta Hell on Wheels before he makes things unpleasant for the both of us.  You hear?"

"I—"

But this isn't Mickey.

The Mickey that Bonnie once knew would never kill a man - let alone his own brother.  Even if his greed lead him to be underhanded and cruel at times, he wasn't a murderer.

"Go," he says, releasing Bonnie just as suddenly as he had taken her.  Those beautiful, but cloudy blue eyes search her face with an unfamiliar sense of desperation; it's like he needs to know she can do this and she's not so sure that she can.  "Now.  Before he has a chance to do somethin' we'll both regret."

\- - -

It comes as no surprise to Bonnie that she should find Sean McGinnes standing in front of the towering church steeple.  He's looking up at it as if in some sort of trance and, try as she might, Bonnie's voice catches in her throat when she calls out to him.  The best she can muster on the heel of Mickey's thinly veiled is a strangled, "Sean?"

The boy turns with great reluctance from the gaping church front, his eyes empty and lost.

Recognizing his complete resignation to his task in spite of Mickey's warning, Bonnie takes Sean by the arm in haste and asks, "Come walk with me?"

There appears no harm in humoring Bonnie Mae a while, so together they walk arm-in-arm through town.  There's an underlying urgency to their pace, though, and the fear that runs rampant in Bonnie's stormy brown eyes leaves Sean uneasy.  Something is wrong.

As they approach the end of Main Street, straying right past the last tent and out into the knee-high prairie grass, Sean prods, "What's this about, Bonnie?"

"Am I that obvious?"  Bonnie asks, but even when she tries to laugh the tension off the fear remains.  "... It's Mickey."

"Me brother?"  Sean demands, planting his feet to forcibly stop Bonnie.  "But ain't you an' 'im—?"

"Don't play a fool, Mr. McGinnes," she warns, her voice no more than a whisper.  "I got word that you's in real trouble if you go near that church girl again."

"Ruth?  Mickey, that's bastard—"

But Bonnie Mae tightens her hand around Sean's forearm when he tries to return to town.  This raw fear, more than the confession of Mickey's intent, surprise Sean into a silent compliance.  How much does Bonnie know about what he intends to share with Ruth?  What side did Mickey share?

Before he can ask, however, Bonnie explains, "He's givin' you one chance, Sean, an' tomorrow's train'll be too late.  You gotta get outta town _now_ —"

"If he thinks I'm afraid—"

"He don't," Bonnie insists, more desperate this time.  "But I am, Sean, an' I's begginin' you: get outta town before it's too late."

That's when Sean recognizes the fear in Bonnie's eyes for the first time.  Her features are all wrong, but the look in her eyes right now is identical to the look in the eyes of the shop keeper's daughter that night in Boston.  Whether Bonnie knows it or not, she's already met the real Mickey McGinnes - the Mickey McGinnes that Sean's tried so hard to change since leaving Ireland - and he's put them both in danger as a means of forcing Sean's hand.  If he doesn't leave now, as she says, Bonnie will be in trouble, too.

It's cold and it's cruel and Sean's trembling like a leaf, but he places his hand over Bonnie's and asks, "Where will I go?"

Looking into Sean's terrified blue eyes, Bonnie makes up her mind in what might be the hastiest decision she's ever made.  But there really aren't many options left and, though it's a high-stakes gamble, she knows she has to place everything she has on living.

"I don't rightly know," she confesses.  "But I do know that wherever you go, you won't hafta go alone."


End file.
